Argentina's wobbles aside, the story of the region's qualifying campaign has been provided by Chile, who are well on the way to their first appearance at the finals since 1998 – under an Argentinian manager. Marcelo Bielsa (right), nicknamed "The Madman" because of his disciplinarian nature and obsession with the minutiae of matches, is highly respected in his homeland thanks to his work in developing young talent but he stepped down after six years as coach of Argentina's senior team in 2004.

He took charge in Chile three years later, just in time to rescue them from a poor start to the qualifiers. Bielsa again demonstrated his acumen in nurturing youngsters by dispensing with older players and putting his trust in many of the youngsters who propelled Chile to third place in the 2007 Under-20 World Cup, including the exciting midfielders Alexis Sánchez and Gary Medel.

Inexperience has led to inconsistency but in general the new-look team have excelled and Bielsa's determination to attack even in away matches helped Chile to win in Paraguay's notoriously difficult Defensores del Chaco stadium as well as in Peru. Chile also scored a home victory over Argentina. On Wednesday they travel to Brazil, the likely group winners, but even if they lose there they should take enough points in their remaining games to make it to South Africa.